Letters To The Editor

Is George W. Bush running for governor of Virginia? I don't think so, but if you listen to all the ads from candidate Creigh Deeds, you would think Bush is the opposition.

If that's the best campaign idea he and his advisers can come up with, I have no interest in having them run the commonwealth.

Bush has nothing to do with the future of Virginia. Hopefully, most Virginians will see through that shallow rhetoric and vote for a candidate who really can focus on the future rather than the past: Bob McDonnell.

Tom Bernard

Gloucester

Basic health care

Health-care reform would mean real improvements for many people in our community. Insurance companies would no longer be able to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, and employees would no longer have to worry about losing their health coverage should they lose their job.

As a cancer survivor, oncology nurse and active volunteer in my community, I have experienced and witnessed tremendous stress on people with serious health needs who must consider everyday decisions in light of their health insurance status.

It's time to realize that we are all connected and we must take care of basic health care for all. We are an advanced society in so many ways, but in provision of care for all we often act like an underprivileged nation.

Linda Silver

Newport News

Not just about cats

Feral cats depend on local agencies such as the Peninsula SPCA for help; denying the SPCA the funds it needs to take these animals doesn't just hurt the cats - it is unnecessarily expensive for the city and its taxpayers ("SPCA funding does not allow for feral cats," Sept. 1).

Leaving these cats to fend for themselves on the streets will inevitably result in the cats producing more cats to suffer from weather extremes; go hungry; sustain and eventually perish as a result of untreated injuries, infections and contagious diseases such as rabies; get poisoned or shot when people take matters into their own hands; get hit by cars; and the list goes on.

Worst of all, these cats will produce litter after litter of kittens who will suffer the same fates. Caring for the exponential numbers of kittens created by feral cats will cost the city and its taxpayers much more money in the long run.

I urge readers to help prevent cats from suffering on the streets by keeping their cats indoors as the law requires and by always having their cats spayed or neutered.

Call 622-PETA, option 3, to make a spay/neuter appointment. Citizens who need help with feral cat situations that the city refuses to help them with can call People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals at 622-PETA for assistance.

Daphna Nachminovitch

Vice president, Cruelty Investigations Department, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Norfolk